Nocturnal Meetings of the Misplaced | Audiobook Blog Tour, Spoiler-Free Review, & Giveaway

Title: Nocturnal Meetings of the Misplaced
Author: R. J. Garcia
Publisher: The Parliament House
Publication Date: May 1, 2018
Genre(s): YA, Mystery
Source: YA Bound Book Tours
Pages: 350
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Synopsis

Mystery surrounds the town of Summertime, Indiana, where fifteen-year-old Tommy Walker and his little sister are sent to live with relatives they’ve never met. Tommy soon makes friends with Finn Wilds, a rebellious local who lives with his volatile and abusive stepfather, who also happens to be the town’s sheriff. Finn invites Tommy to late night meetings in the woods, where Tommy gets to know two girls. He forms a special and unique connection with both girls. The meetings become a place where the kids, who don’t fit in at school, or home can finally belong. As the group of friends begin to unravel clues to a cold case murder and kidnapping- they learn the truth is darker and closer than they ever imagined. Even if they live to tell, will anyone believe them?

Review:

Nocturnal Meetings of the Misplaced is a little bit Are You Afraid of the Dark and a little bit Stand By Me. This book was a fun blend of coming of age and mystery.

This book follows Tommy and Finn. Tommy is new to the town, living with his aunt and uncle after CPS separate him and his sister from his mom. He quickly befriends Finn, son of the police chief, with a rough home life of his own. Finn invites Tommy to the nocturnal meetings, along with two other friends. These meetings are a place for people who don’t have another place to fit in.

The group ends up trying to solve a local cold case and more secrets are exposed than the kids are ready for.

As this is an audiobook review, the first thing I think I want to talk about is the audiobook. I think it’s an okay audiobook, but definitely not one of my favorites. I’m not sure how much of this was the story or the narrator, but I had a lot of trouble connecting with this audiobook. The differentiation between the characters wasn’t great (some characters were easy to tell, but many sounded similar). Overall, this is an audiobook that some people will thoroughly enjoy, but one I may have turned off sooner.

As for the narrative itself, I enjoyed a lot of the premise, but I had a few issues with the execution. I think the biggest thing I had an issue with was how disjointed the narrative felt. It jumped between characters and plot points a bit more than I liked with little to no warning. There were chapter headers to tell you about the characters, though I think I missed it the first few POV shifts. This made it a bit harder for me to get invested in the story as so many things felt choppy.

That being said, I did enjoy the concept a lot and I think the mystery aspect was explored pretty well. Characters with valid motives were introduced and some of the red herrings worked really well in the context of the narrative.

I really enjoyed the characters in this story. Our two main characters each come from rough backgrounds and those hardships were explored pretty well. I also enjoyed how protective Tommy was of his sister Izzy. The coming of age aspects of this book were enjoyable as well. The main characters of this book were 13 or 14 and I few like they were written in a way younger readers can really related too.

Final Thoughts:

While this may have not been the mystery for me, I still enjoyed several aspects of this book. This is a great audiobook for those new to the format and a fun mystery for those who was to explore the genre.

Those who are looking for a nice blend of coming of age and mystery or a book with some strong friendships will really enjoy this one!

Rating:

3 stars

Author Spotlight:

R.J. Garcia is a wife and proud mom. She earned her MSW and worked with foster children and as a school social worker. Writing has been her other great love. She has published several non-fiction pieces. She has been writing short-stories for as long as she can remember. To her amazement, those short stories became novels!

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